Strange sight

I live in a village which has a few shops as well as its own doctor’s surgery so we’re pretty self sufficient – it was one reason why we chose to live here. Once a week I walk to my art group in the village hall and I have to pass the surgery on the way. Imagine my surprise this morning when I saw a farmer’s tractor parked in the car park. Even as I did a double take the farmer – or a farm worker, I’m not sure which – came out of the building and coolly drove away. It certainly brought a smile to my face.

Word count

The word count is building slowly. On good days I usually average about 2000 words. Not much by some writer’s standards, but I’m happy with that figure. So far, with this book, though, I’ve never reached it and I’ve been trying to analyse why. I’ve decided it’s because that even though, at the end of play today, I’ve reached nearly 20,000 words, which is a good chunk of the story, I’ve not really had time to immerse myself into it without any distractions. Which means that I don't have the flow that I get when I’m writing for several hours each day without interruption. It’s what comes of having workmen in to do various jobs. I’ll perhaps tell you more about that later because the project's still ongoing. Meanwhile I’m going to enjoy my weekend and I hope you enjoy yours too whatever you’re doing.

Interview

I’m being interviewed today over on the WeWriteRomance website, so for anyone who wants to take a look here is a direct link

http://www.wewriteromance.com/interviews/mayo-margaret-int-june2008.html

Despite the good news from my editor saying she loves the first three chapters of my Greek book, the writing is nevertheless going very slowly. I put it down to the fact that I’m not yet into the swing of things. Having a three week break hasn’t done me any good at all. And then yesterday, just as I’d started to write, my daughter turned up with baby Oliver. So what could I do? Cuddle him, of course. Devote all my attention to him. He’s so gorgeous. And he gives us the most beautiful smiles now.

This morning I attended my local art group, which I never miss if I can help it. And now I’m supposed to be writing but I’m doing my blog instead. Talk about procrastination...

The go ahead

I have good news from my editor. Zarek’s passed the test. He’s been sitting waiting for three weeks to see whether she likes him enough to let me write his story. And now that she has met him, now that she knows what a fantastic guy he is, she can’t wait to read the rest of his story. Actually I’ve spent so much time away from him, some days not even thinking about him (how bad is that?) that I shall need to reintroduce myself.
Zarek the Greek. He’s totally gorgeous and Molly is going to fall for him in a big way. I might even be jealous of her. On the other hand I always play the part of the heroine personally. I become that woman. Which means I’ve had dozens of fantastic lovers over the years! I wonder what Zarek will be like?

Foreign editions

I've received several foreign copies of my various books recently but the one that interested me most was this Israeli one of THE RICH MAN'S RELUCTANT MISTRESS. The absence of the hero intrigues me. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a lovely cover and I've had it sitting on my desk for days now so that I can keep looking at it.

Incidentally this same book is being released in the Presents series in July in the US and it's already for sale on Amazon.com. It's the story of Lucinda and Zane. Lucinda used to work for Zane and considered him an arrogant, womanizing playboy. Now she runs her own interior design business and is shocked to discover that her latest client is none other than her former boss. She's determined not to become another statistic, but ends up battling to resist him.

As far as my current book's concerned I'm still in limbo. The fact that we have some workmen in at the moment doesn't help either.

Contest

My May contest is now closed and my DH has chosen the winner, who is:

Christine Ince

Congratulations Christine. If you email me your address my Classic Romances 2 in 1 book will soon be winging its way to you.

Shaken not stirred

We had a lovely week with our grandson, taking him to different places – he’s such a joy to be with and we’re making the most of it because we know that when he gets a bit older (he’s going on thirteen) he won’t want to come out with us. But actually I was fortunate to be with him at all. I was on my way to pick him up, waiting to turn right, conscious when I slowed down that there was a car in the distance behind me. All of a sudden, just as the road in front was clear and I was about to turn, I felt an almighty bang on my back end. For a moment I couldn’t think what was happening. I was shunted across the road onto a grassy area and narrowly missed a tree. The driver of the car following me had applied his brakes but because the road was wet his car didn’t stop.

To say I was shaken is an understatement. But I wasn’t hurt, which is the main thing. And nor was the other driver. My car’s pretty sick but still driveable. His had to be taken away on a tow truck. This was my first ever accident in 45 years of driving. I’m just glad it wasn’t my fault.

I read an interesting article in Romance Matters (The Romantic Novelists Association quarterly magazine) about chapter endings. The aim of a chapter ending is to make the reader want to read on and in Sarah Duncan’s article she said that she loved it when people complained that one of her books had kept them awake long after they intended, so compelling was the need to read just one more chapter.

One of my nieces once said to me that she wished I’d make my chapters shorter, because she liked to finish a chapter before turning out the light. (Do we all read in bed at night?) Actually in my earlier books the chapters were longer, so I took on board what she said.

In the article Sarah Duncan also said that she never puts her novels into chapters until the final draft, which means she has to finish every scene end with a page-turner – just in case!

It’s an interesting take on chapter endings. What does anyone else think?